Nello's Risotto ai funghi porcini.
"Risotto ai funghi porcini" is one of the most famous Italian recipes, hands down. But having your hands down won't help make this dish, so lift them up and do the following!
One, the ingredients: 1) Arborio rice 2) Chicken or vegetable broth 3) White wine 4) Porcini mushrooms, 1/3 weight of arborio rice (If you don't have porcini mushrooms, try wild mushrooms, crimini, or another plump, flavorful type.) 5) Salt 6) Extra virgin olive oil 7) Onion 8) Parsley 9) One garlic clove 10) Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano |
|
Passing through Romagna. La minestra di passatelli.
The table is set. Pull up a chair. You’re in the splendid region of Emilia-Romagna in northeast Italy, at the home of Lilli Chellini, here on the scenic Via Romea in Savio, a small town just south of Ravenna. Today we will learn how to prepare a typical dish from Romagna (the eastern part of the region), la minestra di passatelli (passatelli soup), and also take a peek into the traditions of a truly marvelous regional Italian cuisine.
La minestra di passatelli. Sunshine in broth. Romagna’s gift to Italy. Like many dishes in Italy, it is a regional one with traditions born in Romagna. Though passatelli soup was never so fortunate as to become a staple Italian dish, it certainly does give us a taste of one of the many culinary masterpieces of Italy. Passatelli soup has always been served on the tables of Romagna. Like most dishes in Italy, it’s enjoyed during the season when its ingredients are freshest and best consumed, in this case, during spring. As the base ingredient there’s egg. According to Lilli, a long-time resident of Romagna, “the tradition of passatelli soup has been handed down from centuries past as a typical dish served during Easter. . . . Tradition requires that before preparing the dish the women of the house and their children would bring the eggs in church to have them blessed with Holy Water.” In some cases the eggs would be colored using herbal dyes. Sound familiar? While passatelli soup has historically been served on Easter Sunday, today it is prepared during various times of the year.
Hungry? While not too complicated, the recipe requires patience and the right quality ingredients—not to mention a passino, the metal hand press through which the passatelli pasta take their shape. It’s from this very tool that the dish gets its name: passatelli “pass” (from the Italian verb “passare”) through the passini. These can be found at your local specialty cooking store. Purchase one that allows about a quarter of an inch of pasta to run through the many holes of the press. Now onto the good stuff. Lilli’s recipe.
La minestra di passatelli
Ingredients for six persons
Bread crumbs (use only dry, oil and butter free bread)
2 1/2 Ounces of grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano)
3 egg whites
4 egg yolks
A pinch of ground nutmeg
A pinch of ground lemon skins
One teaspoon of bovine marrow (this is used according to tradition. In its place, one may easily substitute a teaspoon of butter)
A heaping spoonful of wheat flour
Chicken broth (2 1/2 liters)
Recipe
Bring a pot of chicken broth to boil. While the broth begins to boil, combine in a large mixing bowl the bread crumbs, grated parmigiano reggiano, flour, ground nutmeg, ground lemon peels, and bovine marrow (or butter). Mix the ingredients extremely well until all is equally dispersed and balanced. After this step is complete, add the three egg whites and four yolks. Using your hands, mix the eggs extremely well with the other ingredients. Form a small ball and then check the softness. If it feels too soft, add more bread crumbs. Let the ball rest for thirty minutes. At this point, prepare the pasta in the passino. The pasta should fall delicately in short, spaghetti-like forms on a large flat plate. Once you have finish preparing them, they are ready immediately to be cooked in the boiling broth. Once the pasta rises to the top of the broth, turn off the flame and let rest for a moment. The passatelli are now ready. Serve them in the broth.
La minestra di passatelli. Sunshine in broth. Romagna’s gift to Italy. Like many dishes in Italy, it is a regional one with traditions born in Romagna. Though passatelli soup was never so fortunate as to become a staple Italian dish, it certainly does give us a taste of one of the many culinary masterpieces of Italy. Passatelli soup has always been served on the tables of Romagna. Like most dishes in Italy, it’s enjoyed during the season when its ingredients are freshest and best consumed, in this case, during spring. As the base ingredient there’s egg. According to Lilli, a long-time resident of Romagna, “the tradition of passatelli soup has been handed down from centuries past as a typical dish served during Easter. . . . Tradition requires that before preparing the dish the women of the house and their children would bring the eggs in church to have them blessed with Holy Water.” In some cases the eggs would be colored using herbal dyes. Sound familiar? While passatelli soup has historically been served on Easter Sunday, today it is prepared during various times of the year.
Hungry? While not too complicated, the recipe requires patience and the right quality ingredients—not to mention a passino, the metal hand press through which the passatelli pasta take their shape. It’s from this very tool that the dish gets its name: passatelli “pass” (from the Italian verb “passare”) through the passini. These can be found at your local specialty cooking store. Purchase one that allows about a quarter of an inch of pasta to run through the many holes of the press. Now onto the good stuff. Lilli’s recipe.
La minestra di passatelli
Ingredients for six persons
Bread crumbs (use only dry, oil and butter free bread)
2 1/2 Ounces of grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano)
3 egg whites
4 egg yolks
A pinch of ground nutmeg
A pinch of ground lemon skins
One teaspoon of bovine marrow (this is used according to tradition. In its place, one may easily substitute a teaspoon of butter)
A heaping spoonful of wheat flour
Chicken broth (2 1/2 liters)
Recipe
Bring a pot of chicken broth to boil. While the broth begins to boil, combine in a large mixing bowl the bread crumbs, grated parmigiano reggiano, flour, ground nutmeg, ground lemon peels, and bovine marrow (or butter). Mix the ingredients extremely well until all is equally dispersed and balanced. After this step is complete, add the three egg whites and four yolks. Using your hands, mix the eggs extremely well with the other ingredients. Form a small ball and then check the softness. If it feels too soft, add more bread crumbs. Let the ball rest for thirty minutes. At this point, prepare the pasta in the passino. The pasta should fall delicately in short, spaghetti-like forms on a large flat plate. Once you have finish preparing them, they are ready immediately to be cooked in the boiling broth. Once the pasta rises to the top of the broth, turn off the flame and let rest for a moment. The passatelli are now ready. Serve them in the broth.
Nello's pasta puttanesca.
Don’t mess with this sauce and don’t serve it to the faint of heart. Puttanesca—which means, sauce in the whore’s style—is a spicy, bold sauce that stands on its own very well. A lot of legends have been built around this dish: It was served to clients at brothels in Naples; its name a metaphor for the pungent flavor and strong attitude of the sauce. One thing can be agreed on, and that is, that puttanesca, well, she’s a dish and she’ll give you a bang you’ll not soon forget! OK, so Nello’s a bit dirty, but that’s just how this dish is to be remembered and enjoyed. Enjoy.
Ingredients for four persons
Two garlic cloves
Pinch of oregano
Pinch of pepper
Crushed pepperoncini
Cup of Gaeta olives
A touch of anchovies (fillets broken into small pieces or paste, which is easier to disperse throughout)
1/3 cup of capers
Parsley
Olive oil
Peeled, fresh tomatoes
Recipe
Sauté the finely cut garlic in the olive oil over medium heat, then add the capers, the olives, which you’ll have cut into pieces, the hot pepperoncini, the anchovy fillets or paste, and the oregano and pepper (salt is rarely needed for this recipe, as the capers and anchovies are typically salted; if not, add to taste). Simmer together for a minute or two and then add either fresh, peeled tomatoes, or those from a jar, and simmer for about four to five minutes. Before serving, add the finely chopped parsley. Once the pasta is al dente (cooked just enough that there remains a “snap” at the pasta’s core), strain it, and return to the pot. Mix in the puttanesca sauce and stir until all of the pasta takes on the color of the sauce. Serve piping hot!
Ingredients for four persons
Two garlic cloves
Pinch of oregano
Pinch of pepper
Crushed pepperoncini
Cup of Gaeta olives
A touch of anchovies (fillets broken into small pieces or paste, which is easier to disperse throughout)
1/3 cup of capers
Parsley
Olive oil
Peeled, fresh tomatoes
Recipe
Sauté the finely cut garlic in the olive oil over medium heat, then add the capers, the olives, which you’ll have cut into pieces, the hot pepperoncini, the anchovy fillets or paste, and the oregano and pepper (salt is rarely needed for this recipe, as the capers and anchovies are typically salted; if not, add to taste). Simmer together for a minute or two and then add either fresh, peeled tomatoes, or those from a jar, and simmer for about four to five minutes. Before serving, add the finely chopped parsley. Once the pasta is al dente (cooked just enough that there remains a “snap” at the pasta’s core), strain it, and return to the pot. Mix in the puttanesca sauce and stir until all of the pasta takes on the color of the sauce. Serve piping hot!
